Its been lonely here at FITSNews HQ this week with our founding editor Will Folks soaking up the rays (and possibly grease from fried fish). Easy, ladies 

In Will’s absence we’ve pulled out all the stops to put together a great show for you. I’m most excited for you to see the special report put together by our researcher extraordinaire Jennifer Wood on the potential for federal involvement in the Murdaugh murders crime and corruption saga.

But before we debut Jenn’s special report I walk you through two other important developments: the fallout from last week’s partisan primaries and a new way for the governor to hold Palmetto State school district leaders accountable.

S.C. Attorney General candidate Lauren Martel led a “MAGA slate” protest of her partisan primary loss. Martel was soundly defeated in her bid against third-term incumbent attorney general Alan Wilson.

Martel’s protest was centered around the failure of election workers to be administered an oath required by law. While I am in support of following all laws that legitimize our elections, I characterized Martel’s challenge as “frivolous” in this week’s episode.

I gave slightly more credence to house district 43 candidate Mark Corral, who announced late Tuesday night that he too was submitting a letter disputing the election. Unlike Martel, Corral lost by a far narrower margin of 139 votes (or 3.84 percent) to incumbent Randy Ligon.

Corral protested the relocation of precinct polling places because he alleged that one location was moved outside of an adjacent precinct in violation of S.C. Code §7-7-910.

Both Corral and Martel had to prove that their races would have turned out differently had the issues they cited not occurred, and none of the candidates who challenged their primary results were able to cross that evidentiary threshold in a hearing held before the S.C. GOP executive committee on Thursday evening.

I then moved on to the run-off election in the Republican primary between candidates Ellen Weaver and Kathy Maness for the state superintendent of education position.

Potentially more important for the day-to-day operation of S.C. schools is how governor Henry McMaster‘s investigation into  Richland School District Two proceeds in the coming weeks.

Following months of allegations of improprieties by district leadership, the governor has formally requested that S.C. state inspector general Brian Lamkin investigate the district and provide him with a report of his findings.

We end the episode with FITSNews researcher Jennifer Wood’s special report on RICO charges and what would need to happen for them to be applied in the Murdaugh case.